NO COVER 4:30pm Show
The Willie August Project performs two sets of award-winning original tunes and jazz classics. Consisting of Ben Siems (guitar), Jeremy Hauer (drums), and Graydon Peterson (upright bass), the group plays melodic, rhythmically intricate music rooted in the ECM progressive jazz tradition.
Ben Siems (co-founder, guitarist/composer) has performed at venues across the country as a jazz, blues, and folk guitarist. He has received over two dozen awards and grants for compositions ranging in style from jazz to neoclassical and avant-garde/experimental. He has created soundtracks for over 50 dance and theater productions, film and video works, and TV broadcasts, many of them featuring his first instrument, the cello. The Willie August Project is named for his grandfather, a railroad electrician and music and dance event organizer who died young of a brain tumor.
Jeremy Hauer (co-founder/drummer) studied under Minnesota icons Gordy Knudtson and Dave King, incorporating their masterful use of timbre and texture into his own painterly, reflective style. In addition to performing with The Willie August Project, he has played with multiple Twin Cities jazz and Americana groups, including the Handcars, a Gordon Lightfoot tribute project, and currently, Wilkinson James. He is also an accomplished audio engineer whose credits include installing the sound and video systems of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts concert hall.
Graydon Peterson is a bassist and composer living in Minneapolis. He regularly performs with a variety of vocalists and small ensembles, including Arne Fogel, Wayne Anthony, Firebell, Snowblind, Charanga Tropical, Twin Cities Latin Jazz Orchestra, Tropical Zone Orchestra, D’Lakes, Babatunde Leah’s “Rhythm’s Mama,” and ThoughtCast. Graydon has accompanied world-renowned jazz drummer Francisco Mela for a series of concerts in Havana, Cuba. Other widely known artists Graydon has performed with include Delfeayo Marsalis, Gary Bartz, Randy Brecker, Ben Wendel, Jorge Pacheco, and Mayito Rivera. Graydon is also the founder of a successful jam session held every week at Whitey’s Old Town Saloon in northeast Minneapolis. A consummate accompanist, writer, and arranger, he has become one of the backbones of the jazz scene in the Twin Cities.
